Eight days after the 2016 presidential election, Douglas Schoen — President Bill Clinton’s past pollster and advisor — charged that
former defense intelligence chief Michael Flynn was “dangerously
pro-Russian” because he participated in the 10th anniversary celebration
of RT, the Russian state-owned Television network formerly known as
Russia Today.

Only a few weeks after Flynn resigned as President Donald Trump’s
national security advisor, Attorney General Jeff Sessions faces
resignation demands from congressional Democrats making similar charges
based on two meetings he held in 2016 with Russian Ambassador Sergey
Kislyak.

For as long as people have been writing about Southern character—and
that’s getting to be a pretty long time now—they’ve been inclined to
mention Southern individualism. From Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the
Mar­quis de Chastellux to Charlie Daniels’ “Long-haired Coun­try Boy,”
Southerners have been inclined to mention or exemplify this trait
themselves. W.J. Cash has probably discussed it most thoroughly, in The Mind of the South. He did not entirely (or even mostly) approve, but his descrip­tion, strikes me as right on the money.

A disgraced former reporter was arrested by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation Friday for several bomb threats to Jewish Community
Centers, Jewish schools and other Jewish organizations around the
country.

Juan Thompson, 31, was arrested in St. Louis by the FBI for making at
least eight bomb threats and the cyberstalking of an ex-girlfriend.
Thompson was a former reporter for The Intercept, and was fired after it was discovered that he made up sources and stories, including one about Charleston shooter Dylann Roof.

U.S.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement, “The
president’s decision to ask Betsy DeVos to run the Department of
Education should offend every single American man, woman, and child who
has benefitted from the public education system in this country.”
Expressing similar sentiments, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman
Cedric Richmond said, “I expect that Mrs. DeVos will have an incredibly
harmful impact on public education and on black communities nationwide.”

Those and many other criticisms of Department of Education Secretary
Betsy DeVos could be dismissed as simply political posturing if we did
not have an educational system that is mostly mediocre and is in
advanced decay for most black students.

According to The Nation’s
Report Card, only 37 percent of 12th-graders were proficient in reading
in 2015, and just 25 percent were proficient in math (https://www.nationsreportcard.gov).
For black students, achievement levels were a disgrace. Nationally, 17
percent of black students scored proficient in reading, and 7 percent
scored proficient in math. In some cities, such as Detroit, black
academic proficiency is worse; among eighth-graders, only 4 percent were
proficient in math, and only 7 percent were proficient in reading.

Frustrated by the gush of leaks, the president's allies say it's time to take action.

Advisers to President Donald Trump are urging him to purge the
government of former President Barack Obama's political appointees and
quickly install more people who are loyal to him, amid a cascade of
damaging stories that have put his nascent administration in seemingly
constant crisis-control mode.

A number of his advisers believe Obama officials are behind the leaks
and are seeking to undermine his presidency, with just the latest
example coming from reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions met
twice last year with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. and apparently
misled senators about the interactions during his confirmation hearing.

That was coupled with a New York Times story that Obama appointees
spread information about the investigation into the Trump campaign's
contacts with Russia in an attempt to create a paper trail about the
probe. Trump's aides have also blamed Obama appointees for other
damaging leaks, like Trump's erratic phone calls with foreign leaders.

Last month, President Trump stood in front of the CIA Memorial Wall
and declared that Islamic terrorism "has to be eradicated just off the
face of the Earth." It is front of this wall where, as Vice President
Pence said, “we remember 117 who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our
freedom”, that real change in how we treat those who fight terrorism
must begin.

The vast majority of the men and women added to
that wall in the last few decades were killed by Islamic terrorists.
They include Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods who were murdered in
Benghazi.

And who were abandoned by their government, by Barack Obama
and Hillary Clinton, before their deaths.

Sen. Joe Manchin told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota Thursday that it isn’t
unusual for senators to meet with ambassadors of other countries.

The West Virginia Democrat — in clear defense of Attorney General
Jeff Sessions, who has been accused of not disclosing alleged meetings
with the Russian Ambassador to the United States during President
Trump’s campaign — argued that there’s no way to know if Sessions was
acting on “his official duty being on [the] Armed Services [Committee]”
or discussing campaign strategies.

General Jeff Sessions’ resignation reveals that Thursday’s brouhaha
is driven by mere political grandstanding, not a real concern over
unlawful behavior.

There’s a reason for that: the total lack of evidence that any illegal behavior occurred.

What sparked Thurday’s folderol was a Washington Post
report that General Sessions, while still a U.S. senator, met with the
Russian ambassador last year. Twice.

To characterize the first of these encounters as a
“meeting” strains the meaning of the word—to the breaking point. But to
claim that he “lied” when he did not reveal these “meetings” during his
Senate nomination hearing is even more far-fetched.

Review the record of that hearing with an eye toward
context, and you’ll find that Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) was clearly
asking Sessions if he was aware of any meetings between Trump campaign
staff or surrogates and Russian officials to discuss the election.
Franken specifically cites a CNN story about a supposed “continuing
exchange of information during the campaign between Trump’s surrogates
and intermediaries of the Russian government.”

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed an order Thursday overturning a ban on using lead ammunition on wildlife refuges.

Zinke signed the order on
his first day in office, overturning a policy implemented by former
Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Director Dan Ashe on Jan. 19, the Obama
administration’s last full day in office.

Ashe’s policy banned the
use of lead ammunition and fishing tackle on all FWS wildlife refuges
that allow hunting or fishing, as well as in all other hunting or
fishing regulated by the agency elsewhere.

Remembrance

To die for one’s country is not only an act of bravery, it is THE act of bravery. For soldiers, it is just an extension of their military career, a part of their duty. As leaders have asked their soldiers to sacrifice themselves for the good of the society, it is only right for leaders to go through the same motion. They should practice what they have preached.

As war is seen as a noble act, tu sat serves as redemption in case of defeat. It is also a way to tell the enemy: “You might have won the battle/war but you don’t deserve to win because you don’t have the chinh nghia (just cause).” And it is not only just cause: it is the moral belief that the cause they are fighting for deserves their total sacrifice. Continues below

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Core Creek Militia

==============================My sixth great grandfather, his wife, and five of his six children were killed in battle with the Tuscarora Indians at Core Creek, NC.

The Seven Blackbirds

==============================My third great grandfather was an Ensign in the Revolutionary War, and saved his unit's flag after being wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. He was also at Kingston (Kinston), Wilmington, Charleston, Two Sisters and Augusta. He was at the defeat at Brier Creek and also Bee Creek.

Requiem Aeternam -
Eternal Rest Grant unto Them
==============================
My second great grandfather was killed in action on May 3, 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
=============================
My great grandfather and great uncle knew all the men in the "Civil War Requiem" video as they were part of the 53rd NC which was the sole unit defending Fort Mahone. (Fort Mahone was named "Fort Damnation" by the Yankees) *Handpicked men of the 53rd (My great grandfather was one of these) made the final, night assault at Petersburg in an attempt to break Grant's line. This was against Fort Stedman which was a few miles to the slight northeast. They initially succeeded, but reinforcements drove them back. This video is made from photographs which were taken the day after the 53rd evacuated the lines the night before to begin the retreat to Appomattox. I have many more pictures taken by the same photographer, one of these shows a 14 year old boy and the other is the famous picture of the blond, handsome soldier with his musket.
===========================
*General Gordon promised the men a gold medal and 30 days leave if they accomplished their task and many years after the War my great grandfather wrote General Gordon, who was then governor of Georgia about this incident. They exchanged several letters which I have framed. See first link below.
===========================
*The Attack On Fort Stedman
============================
"His Colored Friends"
============================
Lee's Surrender
=============================
My Black NC Kinfolks
============================
Punished For Being Caught!

Great Grandfather Koonce

He was a drummer boy in the WBTS, survived the War only to die a few years later. He was caught in an ice storm on his way home, but instead of seeking shelter, continued on his horse until the end. His clothes had to be cut off and he died a few days later.